Computer-implemented method and system for managing accounting and billing of transactions over public media such as the internet

ABSTRACT

A system and method for managing accounting and billing e-commerce (including m-commerce) transactions. The user may connect to the e-commerce network by placing a call from a land line or sending a text message. The user may then purchase goods and/or services after meeting required user qualifications, such as minimum age or credit rating. The user qualifications may be established within the framework of a gateway that assigns a unique identifier or personal identification number (PIN) for e-commerce network access once the qualifications are met. The user qualifications may also be established within the framework of a remote access server (RAS) that is accessed by a user through a downloadable automatic dialer having code containing a unique identifier relating to a merchant, product or service. The user is invoiced for the product or service according to the telephone from which the call originated.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a nonprovisional application that claims the benefitof priority to provisional application Ser. No. 60/486,165, filed in theUnited States Patent and Trademark Office on Jul. 11, 2003 entitled“Computer-Implemented Method and System for Managing Accounting andBilling of Transactions Over Public Media Such as the Internet” in thenames of inventors Pascal Pegaz-Paquet and Stephane Touboul. Thispreviously-filed provisional application is incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety the same as if fully set forth.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates to e-commerce billing systems, and moreparticularly to an automated system for conducting and billinge-commerce transactions.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

Along with the growth of e-commerce have emerged innovative methods ofconducting and billing e-commerce transactions. One of the most widelyused media for conducting e-commerce transactions is the Internet.E-commerce offers virtually limitless options as to the types ofaccessible consumer goods and services.

Videotext is one example of a service that may be accessed over theInternet. Videotext is an information service which provides fordelivery of video and audio content to a user's computer or televisionscreen. Videotext may include video in the form of still and/or movingpictures, viewable text, as well as audio. Other goods and servicesmight include magazines, clothing, shoes, music, downloadable softwareprograms, adult entertainment services and access to online publicationssuch as newspapers and magazines.

Numerous business opportunities exist in e-commerce as do opportunitiesfor consumer convenience and satisfaction. Often, the conduct ofe-commerce transactions should be tailored to assuage consumer concernsregarding issues such as security, privacy and accessibility. The rootof many such consumer concerns has been credit card usage in e-commercetransactions. Some users are concerned about the risk of identity theftas a result of online credit card usage, wherein sensitive personalinformation must be divulged in order to consummate a transaction. Inother cases, the consumer concern is accessibility in that the usersmight not have access to a credit card. Accordingly, it is oftendesirable to conduct e-commerce transactions without a credit card.

E-commerce transactions are often not limited by geographical region. Asingle merchant in one country may have a customer base that spansseveral countries. Therefore, it is often useful for such merchants toconsider habits of potential foreign consumers. In some Europeancountries, credit card transactions constitute a small percentage ofonline transactions. Because a merchant may wish to broaden a customerbase, the consummate a transaction with citizens of countries such asEurope. Availing the customer of the opportunity to conduct atransaction without a credit card increases business opportunities inforeign countries.

E-commerce transactions that are consummated without a credit card havecreated additional billing challenges for electronic retailers. Somee-commerce retailers have addressed these billing challenges withcreative billing solutions, such as billing a line subscriber fortransactions consummated on an e-commerce network, where the network wasaccessed by telephone.

In one example of an existing billing system for which a credit card isnot required, the user can obtain information on how to access a privatee-commerce network by browsing the Internet and following steps providedon a web page. Following the steps listed on the web page, the userdials a telephone number from the user's computer modem. The dialednumber may be a toll or toll-free telephone number. The call isforwarded from the user's terminal to a remote terminal that is operatedand administrated by a network service provider. This network serviceprovider is capable of providing access to the e-commerce network thatthe user wishes to access. Prior to reaching the remote terminal, thecall may be routed through various local and/or long distancetelecommunications carriers.

As soon as a connection is established between the user terminal andremote terminal, the remote terminal begins to attempt to identify theorigin of the telephone call using call source identificationinformation. An example of such information that might be used is theautomatic number identification (ANI) service provided by localtelecommunications carriers. A database containing ANI information maybe at a location that is electronically accessible by the remoteterminal that is administrated by the network service provider. This ANIservice may be used to inform a telephone call recipient of theoriginating telephone number for the call. The ANI also includes thename and address of the line subscriber associated with the telephonenumber.

Once the call source has been identified, the user is then asked toverify his/her age. This age verification step may be performed when theuser simply responds affirmatively to a query as to whether he/she isover the age of eighteen. The user is granted access to the network. Theuser's usage is tracked by the network, and an invoice is preparedaccording to network usage. The invoice is sent to the line subscriberto the telephone line identified through the ANI.

This system has inherent drawbacks with respect to billing. This systemprovides no measures for additional verification of the user's identity.The line subscriber may not, in fact, be the network user that incursnetwork charges. The user could be any person, authorized orunauthorized, using the line subscriber's phone to place calls to thenetwork. Moreover, it is possible that the network user might not evenlive at the address from which the call originated. In this case, theline subscriber is sent a bill for services accessed by one who does notlive in the household. The network service provider might, in this case,incur additional administrative costs in attempting to locate theappropriate invoice recipient. In some cases, the actual user may neverbe identified or found. Accordingly, not only does the network serviceprovider incur administrative costs while attempting to identify andlocate the appropriate invoice recipient, but the expected revenue fromthe actual user's network usage may never be recovered.

In these systems, additional billing challenges may result when the callsource identification (ANI) information is not up-to-date. Under thesecircumstances, the invoice might issue in the name and address of aprevious line subscriber to the telephone number. As noted above,improper invoicing results in increased administrative costs andsometimes, loss of revenue, for the network service provider.

In addition to the shortcomings in billing procedures, the ageverification process used in these systems has inherent drawbacks. Nofurther age verification steps are taken beyond the user's affirmativeresponse when asked if the user is over the age of eighteen. Underageusers may present additional challenges. For example, in some countries,a debt may be difficult to enforce against a person under the age ofeighteen. Accordingly, the network service provider is likely to loserevenue for network access provided to the minor. Moreover, somenetworks provide content unsuitable for children. Therefore, even a veryyoung child might have access to content that is strictly intended foradult viewing.

Moreover, because network access is provided without a credit card, thenetwork service provider is essentially extending credit to each of itsusers. Some systems have addressed this issue by establishing a standardlimit for network usage accrued by any user over a predetermined periodof time. Treating all users similarly despite past credit performancemight not be the most beneficial route. If a network service provider isto provide access to users without a credit card, it is desirable forthe network service provider to have some assurance as to a particularlevel of credit it should extend to a particular user.

As illustrated above, the Internet has been a popular medium fore-commerce. Therefore, various e-commerce transactional and billingtechniques have been created based on Internet usage. However, variousother media have become increasingly popular for conducting electronictransactions. A notable example of another medium is mobile telephonecommerce (m-commerce). Because many potential consumers use mobiletelephones, a larger customer base could be reached by making ane-commerce network accessible via mobile telephone.

There is a need for a billing system that incorporates additionalprotective measures for verifying the proper entity or person to bebilled, especially when charges are assessed without a credit card.

There is further a need for user age verification on a network so thatminors do not have access to adult content, and so that the networkservice provider has a better chance of enforcing a debt against anetwork user.

There is yet further a need for user credit eligibility determination sothat a user may be extended credit for network usage commensurate withthe user's credit rating.

There is yet further a need for an e-commerce solution that providesaccess via media other than the Internet, especially via wirelessdevices.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure addresses the needs noted above by providing away to manage user accounting and billing transactions over a network.According to the disclosure, the user's identity and age may beindependently verified, and a credit rating may be established for theuser so that credit may be extended for the purchase of goods and/orservices.

In one aspect of the present disclosure, a system is provided formanaging accounting and billing of transactions. The system includes agateway device that is configured to provide access to the e-commercenetwork subsequent to verification of each required user qualificationfor network access. A required user qualification is at least one of aminimum age and a minimum credit rating. Verification of each requireduser qualification is performed by a qualification verification deviceconfigured to verify at least one required user qualification based onuser qualification input that includes a unique user identifier that maybe input from a user terminal.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, a system is provided formanaging accounting and billing of transactions. The system includes aremote terminal that is configured to receive a request to access thee-commerce network. The remote terminal further includes a unique useridentifier retrieval device configured to retrieve a unique useridentifier from at least one database. The system further includes aqualification verification configured to verify at least one requireduser qualification based on user qualification input. The userqualification input includes a unique user identifier. The at least onerequired user qualification includes at least one of a minimum age and aminimum credit rating.

In yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a system is providedfor managing accounting and billing of transactions. The system includesa remote terminal having a text message source identification device.This text message source identification device is configured to retrievetext message source identification information from at least onedatabase, thereby identifying the source of the text message sent from amobile communications device. The at least one database includes textmessage source identification information from more than one textmessage service provider.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the present disclosure, amethod is provided for accounting and billing transactions. The methodincludes establishing a connection between a user terminal and a remoteterminal. The user terminal includes a display device and a user inputdevice. The user terminal is configured to transmit a user request toaccess an e-commerce network.

The method further includes retrieving call source identificationinformation from at least one database such that the source of theestablished connection may be identified. The method includesdisconnecting the established connection when the call source cannot beidentified based on call source identification information.

In accordance with this method, at least required one user qualificationis verified based on user qualification input. The user qualificationinput includes a unique user identifier, and the at least one requireduser qualification includes at least one of a minimum age and a creditrating.

Access to the e-commerce network is provided subsequent to call sourceidentification and subsequent to verification of each required userqualification. The system receives user selection of a product orservice on the e-commerce network. E-commerce network usage informationis stored, updated and associated with call source identificationinformation. The call source is invoiced based on the e-commerce networkusage information.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program productis provided. The computer program product contains computer executableinstructions for managing accounting and billing of transactions over ane-commerce network. When executed by a computer, the instructions causea data processing system to receive a user communication requestingaccess to the e-commerce network, the user communication being initiatedvia a modem.

The instructions also cause a data processing system to retrieve callsource identification information from at least one database such thatthe source of the established connection between the user terminal andthe remote terminal via the communication link may be identified.

The instructions cause the system to identify a call source based oncall source identification information, if the call sourceidentification information includes an address for the call source. Adisconnection occurs of the established connection occurs when the callsource cannot be identified based on call source identificationinformation.

The instructions cause the system to verify at least one userqualification based on at least part of a user social security number,if the number is located in the at least one database. The at least oneuser qualification includes at least one of a minimum age or a creditrating. The instructions cause the system to provide access to thee-commerce network subsequent to identification of the call source, andsubsequent to verification of the at least one user qualification.

The instructions also cause the system to receive user selection of aproduct or service for purchase. The instructions cause the system tostore e-commerce network usage information in a record, associate thee-commerce network usage information with call source identificationinformation, and update the according to e-commerce network usage. Theinstructions cause the system to invoice the call source based on thee-commerce network usage information.

One advantage of the present disclosure is to provide a billing systemthat incorporates additional protective measures for verifying theproper entity or person to be billed, especially when charges areassessed without a credit card.

Yet another advantage of the present disclosure is to provide for userage verification on an e-commerce network so that minors do not haveaccess to adult content, and so that the network service provider has abetter chance of enforcing a debt against a network user.

Still another advantage of the present disclosure is to provide for usercredit eligibility determination on an e-commerce network. In thismanner, a user may be extended credit for network usage commensuratewith the user's credit rating.

Finally, yet another advantage of the present disclosure is to providee-commerce access via media other than the Internet, especially viamobile or wireless devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other advantages, features, and characteristics of the presentdisclosure will become apparent to one skilled in the art from a closestudy of the following detailed description in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings and appended claims, all of which form a part ofthis application. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a call flow diagram for conducting and billing e-commercetransactions in accordance with one embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 2 is a call flow diagram for conducting and billing e-commercetransactions in accordance with yet another embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 3 is a screen shot of a user interface for the system for managingaccounting and billing of e-commerce transactions in accordance with oneembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a call flow diagram for conducting andbilling m-commerce transactions in accordance with yet anotherembodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appendeddrawings is intended as a description of exemplary embodiments of thepresent disclosure and is not intended to represent the only embodimentsin which the present disclosure can be practiced. The detaileddescription includes specific details for the purpose of providing athorough understanding of the present disclosure. However, it will beapparent to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure may bepracticed without these specific details.

For purposes of the present disclosure, the term “e-commerce” as usedherein includes the conduct of financial or barter transactions byelectronic means, including but not limited to the purchase and/or saleof goods and/or services. The term “e-commerce” as used hereinencompasses these electronic transactions, regardless of the electronicmedia. Such media may include, but are not limited to, digital media(including digital television) and wireless media (including mobiletelephone). Such media include the Internet and telephone.

Because the term “e-commerce” includes electronic transactions conductedover mobile telephones, the term “e-commerce” also encompassestransactions conducted through the medium now commonly known as“m-commerce.” Examples of goods and/or services which may be the subjectof these transactions are videotext, pay television services, magazines,clothing, shoes, music, downloadable software programs, online video,dating services, games, adult entertainment services and onlinepublications such as newspapers and magazines.

Goods purchased over the network may be digital or physical goods. Goodsand/or services which were the subject of the purchase may be enjoyedover a number of media, including, for example, a television, a computeror a handheld device. In the present application, goods is usedsynonymously with products.

The present disclosure may be practiced over an e-commerce network.These networks may include a system of interconnected computers orterminals which share information over one or more communication links,e.g., wired and/or wireless links. These terminals may include laptopcomputers, desktop computers, WINDOWS® CE® hand-held devices, PDA'se.g., PALMPILOT's, server computers, host computers, client computer,mobile or cellular telephones, and other intelligent devices.

The terminal may include, but is not limited to, any device thatincorporates a central processing unit (CPU), which may be provided, forexample, as a conventional microprocessor, a read only memory (ROM) forpermanent storage of information, and a random access memory (RAM) fortemporary storage of information. The terminal may also include adisplay. Operation of the terminal may be generally controlled andcoordinated by operating system software. An operating system residentin system memory and executed by the CPU may coordinate the operation ofthe other elements of computer system. The computer system may alsoinclude storage devices, e.g., a diskette, CD-ROM, hard disk, etc.

The present disclosure relates to a system and computer-implementedmethod for managing accounting and billing of transactions over publicmedia. Information on accessing the network may be obtained over publicmedia, including the Internet, mobile telephone, television ortelephone. The user may connect to the network by placing a call from atelephone line. The user may then purchase goods and/or services. Theuser is invoiced according to the telephone number from which the calloriginated.

The present system and method may be practiced within the framework of aVoIP gateway or digital line that assigns a unique identifier orpersonal identification number (PIN) for e-commerce network access. Thepresent system and method may also be practiced within the framework ofa remote access server (RAS) that is accessed by a user using adownloadable automatic dialer having code containing a uniqueidentifier.

Regardless of the framework used, the present disclosure includesfeatures for user address verification, user age verification, and auser credit eligibility determination using at least a portion of theuser's social security number. The partial or total social securitynumber is cross-referenced with a name and/or address to determine anage found in a social security database for the corresponding socialsecurity number. In this manner, the user's address can be verified forbilling purposes.

Moreover, the user's age can be verified so that network access is notprovided to minors. The partial or total social security number may alsobe matched with a credit rating contained in a database. This rating isused to determine the user's credit standing so that credit may beextended for the purchase of goods and/or services over the network. Thepresent system and method provide for user billing by including thecharges in the user's telephone bill, whether a mobile telephone orotherwise. The user may also be invoiced by paper invoice, e-mail or SMStext message. The present system and method further provide for networkaccess with an automated accounting and billing process.

Referring now to FIG. 1, illustrated is a call flow diagram of systemcomponents 100 used in conducting, accounting and billing transactionsin accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. A userterminal 101 includes a personal computer (PC) 105 operatively coupledto a display device such as a monitor 102. The user terminal 101 furtherincludes one or more input devices such as a mouse 103 and keyboard 104.These input devices 103, 104 are also operatively coupled to thepersonal computer 105. User PC 105 also includes an internal modem (notshown). Although the modem shown in this embodiment is internal, themodem may also be external. The modem is connected via a telephone cord106 to a wall jack 107. Although the embodiment illustrated incorporatesa telephone jack, it should be understood that any suitable connectionmay be used, including but not limited to Ethernet, wireless orotherwise.

Software resident at user terminal 105 includes a web browser. Largelydue to web browser, the user terminal 105 is capable of receiving one ormore web pages which may be viewed at monitor 102. Other softwareresident at user terminal 105 might include an operating system used tocontrol the execution of computer programs, such as the web browser. Theoperating system may also provide an interface to peripheral devicessuch as mouse 103, keyboard 104 and monitor 102.

At user terminal 101, the user views a web page. This web page informsthe user of a toll number that can be called to access an e-commercenetwork. After accepting relevant terms and conditions, the user dialsthe toll number via the internal modem using a dial-up connection. Tollnumbers are generally numbers for which an access fee is charged. As iswidely known, telephone numbers in the United States include athree-digit area code followed by a seven-digit number. Currently, tollnumbers are distinguished from regular long distance or local telephonenumbers in that they often have an area code in the United States of 201or 900, among others.

Although the United States is used as an example in this description, itshould be understood that the telephone number could be in a format usedby any country, whether in Europe, Asia or otherwise. Moreover, althougha toll number is used in this embodiment, it should be understood thatthe telephone number may be a toll number or a toll-free number. Use ofa toll number may provide certain advantages in that it provides across-reference for verification of the length of time connected to thee-commerce network. Time spent on a toll call is usually recorded on auser's long distance telephone bill. If a dispute arose between thenetwork service provider and the user as to the amount of time spent onthe network (especially for time-based billing), the long distancetelephone bill could be used as an independent verification of timespent for network usage.

In lieu of dialing the toll number from a computer modem as in thisexample, the user might dial the number directly using a home telephone.Moreover, in lieu of dialing the telephone number, the user may connectto the remote terminal 125 using a broadband connection. As long as theremote terminal 125 detects a modem, such as internal modems commonlyfound on today's computers, the connection may be properly established.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the user's call is received by a localtelecommunications carrier 110. The call may then directed to the longdistance carrier 115 which the user has selected as a long distanceservice provider.

The call is received at remote terminal 125 and a “wink” occurs uponreceipt of the call by the remote terminal 125. This “wink” may come tomark the beginning of a billable event, depending on the relevant termsand conditions agreed to by the user. Through software resident at theremote terminal 125, the remote terminal 125 first attempts to identifythe telephone number and address from which the call originated, and theidentity of the line subscriber. The remote terminal 125 performs thiscall source identification by accessing information contained in an RBOC(regional bell operating company) reverse matching database 135. Thisreverse matching information may be kept in regional and/or localtelephone records and/or databases. If the record is found in thereverse match database 135, the remote terminal 125 attempts todetermine the status of the identified number and address through thenegative ANI database 130. This call source identification assists withproper invoicing.

Status information assists the e-commerce network provider indetermining whether the call should proceed. For example, in some cases,the number may be blocked by the line subscriber so that no toll callsmay originate from the line. In other cases, the number might be blockedby the network service provider. In yet other cases, the originatingnumber might have exceeded a network-established usage threshold. Ineach of these instances, if the information is found in the negative ANIdatabase 130, the call is dropped by the remote terminal 125 based onthis negative information. The device used to automatically disconnectthe call may be software resident at the remote terminal 125. Thesoftware may be configured to respond to negative status information bytriggering a disconnect signal so that the call is disconnected.

In some cases, the call will not proceed as far in the call flow processsuch that status information is searched by the remote terminal 125. Forexample, in some instances, the ANI reverse match database 135 does notprovide sufficient information to determine the number and address ofthe originating call. If so, the remote terminal 125 might be configuredto try a reverse address match service through a third party vendor overthe Internet. This second reverse match process might be performed bycontacting and retrieving the information from a third-party server (notshown). TARGUS and EXPERIAN are third-party vendors that provide such areverse match service. When the remote terminal 125 receives the ANIinformation from the ANI reverse match database 135, the remote terminal125 ensures that the record is not duplicated by taking into account therecords with similar names. If the last names without the first namesmatch, or the first names without the last names match, the system doesnot duplicate the record.

If, at the remote terminal 125, it is determined that the customer doesnot exist in the system based on lack of customer information in thebilling system, the system creates a new customer record. If the lastcall source identification by the remote terminal 125 from the callsource was made a significant period of time earlier, such as 60 days,the remote terminal 125 may attempt to re-validate the ANI from the ANIdatabase because the ANI may have changed in such a significant lengthof time.

If the information is insufficient in both the reverse match database135 based on regional data and/or the database of a third-party vendor(not shown), the call is dropped because the remote terminal 125 cannotverify billing information or identity information, such as the user'sname and address. If the user's address and name are verified, the callproceeds to an interactive voice response server 145 over a voice-overinternet protocol (VoIP) gateway, which handles preambles, voice promptsand tone recognition. This interactive voice response server 145 assistswith verifying the user's age. This interactive voice response server145 also centralizes the issuance of personal identification numbers(PINs) which will be issued after all required user qualifications aremet.

Various problems are encountered with minor-originated calls, making agequalification a desirable step in permitting network access. Forexample, some network-accessible web content may not be appropriate forminors. Also, charges accrued based on a minor's network usage may bedifficult to collect since the debt might not be legally enforceableagainst the minor. It might be desirable to confirm age prior toproviding access to the e-commerce network.

Accordingly, an age verification process may be performed based on aportion of the user's social security number. The interactive voiceresponse server 145 prompts the user to enter at least a portion of theuser's social security number. The social security information that wasentered by the user is sent to the internal cached social securitydatabase 140 at remote terminal 125.

The partial social security number should match that found in theinternal cached database 140. Through software located at remoteterminal 125, the remote terminal 125 first attempts to validate thepartial social security number, which may be four digits of the entiresocial security number. If the four-digit social security number is notvalid, the user may retry with different digits. Once the four-digitsocial security number is validated, the remote terminal 125 checks theinternal cached database 140.

If an age record meeting qualification requirements is found in thiscached database 140 that corresponds to the input partial socialsecurity number, the remote terminal 125 determines that the user is ofsufficient age. The remote terminal 125 performs this process bycomparing and matching the partial social security number in the cacheddatabase 140 with an age associated with that social security number. Ifthe record is found and the user's age is greater than eighteen, theuser is allowed to view the premium content. The user's call is thenconnected to the web site 150 that includes the premium content. Theuser may then view the premium content at the monitor 102, located atuser terminal 101.

If the age verification process fails after a few attempts to verify thesocial security number, the system has yet another backup system for ageverification. The user may be prompted to enter additional informationsuch as driver's license number, the date of birth or full name toperform a final validation before the call is disconnected. Thisadditional information may be cross-referenced with yet another databaseto ensure proper identity. If this age validation step proceeds, thecall proceeds. It should be noted that a number of qualifiers could beestablished by the network, e.g., age. Moreover, a particular creditrating might be a qualifier.

With the user's age having just been verified—his identity and addresshaving previously been verified—the user is given a personalidentification number (PIN). The PIN allows the user to connect to sitecontent without disconnecting from the user's Internet service provider(ISP). The PIN might be, for example, an eight-digit number. For minutebilling, the user might need to stay on the phone without disconnectingfrom his/her ISP in order for the PIN to be active.

Using the PIN has several advantages. First, a PIN number might providefor additional privacy in light of others who might review the invoicesent to the address associated with the ANI. When the user enters hisPIN, he might agree that he'd like to be billed in units. The goodsand/or services purchased by the user with the units would be known onlyto the user. The units essentially act as tokens to be used within thesystem. For each unit, the user would be charged a fixed amount.Moreover, a user might share an e-mail account with another use. If theuser has chosen to be invoiced by e-mail, the user might not wish forothers who use the account to view the invoice details. The unit billingprovides privacy in this respect, also.

The call then proceeds to web site 150. This web site contains the goodand/or service that the user has requested. At this point, the user'scommunications session commences. Time-based billing also commences andcontinues until the user disconnects from the web site.

The user might purchase goods and/or services at this point. Forexample, the user might purchase a pay television program. This type ofordering service might be particularly useful where the user's regularcable service provider does not provide the program at issue. The usermight agree to have the television program placed on the user'stelephone bill. The remote terminal 125 updates the user's call detailrecord, and the user is invoiced for the charges. The user may makesubsequent purchases of goods and/or services using the PIN or passwordthat was issued. The user may also be issued a user identification (ID).

For time-based billing, it might be desirable for the remote terminal125 and pertinent software to track the per-minute e-commerce networkusage of each communication session as identified by the ANI. In orderto ensure that excessive charges are not incurred, the remote terminal125 might disconnect a single communications session after a certaintime threshold, for example, when the time for a single call exceeded 31minutes. Alternatively, the time usage could be tracked for more than asingle session. For example, when a user's communications session(s) fortime-based usage exceeds 93 minutes for a single month, and this 93minutes is reached while the user is viewing the premium content, thecall could be disconnected. Where the user is invoiced based on minuteusage, the number of minutes is multiplied by the appropriate rate inorder to obtain the charged amount. Each user is invoiced based on aunique identifier corresponding to the call source identificationinformation.

In some cases, such as where a call source is billed on a monthly basis,it might be desirable for the interactive voice response server 145 todeactivate the PIN at the end of the month's period or any other timeperiod desired.

The user may be billed on a transaction basis, where the user is chargeda set amount for a single transaction, such as a single call or service.In this case, the billing module at remote terminal 125 will designate afixed charge for each unit billed.

The billing module also includes a tax table for the application ofpertinent federal, state, local and other taxes and/or fees. The taxesand/or fees may be assessed based on the call source identificationinformation as well as the premium content requested by a user. Thetaxes and/or fees may also be based on the location of the vendor of thegood and/or services. These taxes and/or fees may be calculated andassessed according to rules for particular government authorities.

At the billing module accessible by remote terminal 125, a credit may beallocated against the bill for vendor or network promotions (asindicated by a promotion code which can be input by the user). Thebilling module accessible by remote terminal 125 might also recordcredits against the amount invoiced according to discounts, refunds orcredits. Charges against the user's call detail record may be creditedaccording to a promotion, discount, refund. The credit amount may alsobe based on courtesy extended by the network service provider, a disputeinitiated by a line subscriber or otherwise. A voucher processing moduleof the software may be used to track and post vouchers related tocredits/adjustments. The voucher processing may also be a result ofreversals of payments, chargebacks as well as accounting for paymentsreceived for which sufficient funds were eventually deemed unavailable.

The billing module includes software that notates and updates accountsfor which returned mail has been received. This return mail managementmodule may be used to notate and update accounts where outboundcorrespondence has been returned by a postal service (including theUnited States postal service) as undeliverable. The correspondence mightinclude bills and letters as well as other correspondence. The returnmail management module allows the remote terminal 125 to be queried at alater date so that no further correspondence is mailed those identifiedaccounts for which return mail has been received.

The billing module may operate in accordance with billing rules. Thebilling rules may include default billing rules for all call sources, orbilling rules specified for a particular call source. The billing rulesmight for a call source might include information related to the numberof days in a bill cycle, start and end dates for the bill cycle, aminimum bill amount, payments received from the call source whereinsufficient funds were available, the number of due dates for a billcycle, the number of bill cycles before a reminder invoice is sent, thenumber of bill cycles before collection activity is instituted, and adate that the billing rules for a call source were modified.

Each invoice generated by the billing module includes a uniqueidentifier for the invoice. The billing module may also determinewhether a standard bill or a reminder bill should be generated for aparticular account. The determination is made based on whether newcharges exist for the account and/or whether the account is due for areminder based on current billing rules.

The user may pay the invoice via credit card, check-by-phone, debitcard, check by mail, e-wallet or any other payment method. The chargesmay also be set up, subject to user approval, so that the charges areautomatically debited from the user's credit card or debit card accounteach month.

Payments may be recorded for a call source, whether received from anoutside vendor or otherwise. The outside vendor may include a collectionagency, a call center or otherwise. The system includes software thatprocesses payments according to processed data which may be receivedfrom such an outsourced vendor or directly to the system and stored in adata file. The method and source of the payment may also be included.The methods and sources may include payments from a lockbox or safedeposit box owned or used by the network service provider. The methodsand sources may also include payments pre-paid to the network serviceprovider. The methods and sources of payments may also include creditcard payments made through the remote terminal, checks by phone receivedby a call center, payments mailed and posted to the system, andcollection payments received by an outside collection agency.

Software modules executable by the remote terminal 125 may also generatestandard account-related letters based on templates accessible by thesoftware modules. The account-related letters may be viewed by the userat the user display 102 and/or mailed to the user at the addressascertained from the user's call source identification information.

These standard letters may indicate the remote terminal 125 hasinsufficient information to determine whether the user is of sufficientage, that the remote terminal 125 has determined that the wrong personhas been billed for this user's access, that the user has a zerobalance, that the account is in precollection status, or that the userhas requested a duplicate invoice (in which case, the invoice wouldgenerally be attached). The standard letters might also be generated inresponse to a consumer inquiry. Due to the routine nature of someconsumer inquiries, the system might have a standard response for anyinquiries deemed desirable.

The standard letters may indicate any other information based on networkusage deemed pertinent by the administrator of the network serviceprovider. Network usage information includes any information related touser communication sessions, such as information relating to the amountowed for network usage, and status information obtained from a negativedatabase. The letters may be generated by an administrator or customercare representative for the network service provider or any other personor entity deemed appropriate by the network service provider.

Through software executable by remote terminal 125, the system may alsogenerate custom letters based on account activity. These custom lettersmight be generated based on content input by the network administrator,a lawyer for the network service provider or otherwise. These customletters may be viewed by the user at display unit 102 and/or received atthe address corresponding to the call source identification information.

Software executable by remote terminal 125 further includes a collectionmodule for initiating, tracking and recording collection activity. Thecollection module may include information such as the name and addressof a collection agency, the contact information for an identifiedcontact within the collection agency, a list of accounts assigned toparticular collection agencies, a list of accounts recalled fromcollection agencies and payments made through collection agencies.

Software executable by remote terminal 125 may also include an accountdetail module that includes a notes history on the user's account. Thesenotes may include information related to the payments posted to a user'saccount, credits and insufficient funds for payment. The account detailmodule may further include information related to invoice history and ahistory of letters generated for the account.

Software executable by remote terminal 125 may also include a reportgeneration module that can be used to generate and compile variousreports for administrative purposes. The reports may be designed forgeneration at the request of a network administrator, or employee forthe network service provider. The network administrator and/or employeerequest generation of the reports through a graphical interface providedby software executable by remote terminal 125. The report may bedisplayed on the terminal used by the network administrator or employee.

The types of reports that may be requested by the network administratorinclude general financial reports related to payments received by thenetwork service provider over an administrator-specified period of time,accounts receivable changes and updates, or payments and vouchers postedto all or certain accounts. The administrator-requested financialreports may also include payment tracking reports which provideinformation as to the payments received over a period of time, thepayments for a particular call source, credit card payments, paymentsfor an account sent to a collection agency, payments where insufficientfunds were available, chargebacks to the network service provider.

The administrator-requested reports may also indicate the number andtypes of bills generated, including those generated in response toparticular dialer campaigns for a particular owner or operator of a webpage including premium content as indicated by the unique identifierassociated with the owner or operator. This unique identifier maycorrespond to a particular PIN assignment. For example, PIN numbers in acertain range may be given to users who wish to view particular webpages containing premium content. Alternatively, as indicated in greaterdetail below, the unique identifier may be transmitted along with codein dialer software that is transmitted upon dialing the remote terminalso that premium content may be accessed.

The administrator-requested reports might also include reports summarizethe standard bills, reminder bills and rebills generated by the remoteterminal 125. Rebills might include bills that were re-sent because theoriginal invoice was sent to the wrong person. Theseadministrator-requested reports might further include block ANI reports(also known as block call reports), which report information related tocall sources that have requested that calls originating from theirtelephone lines be blocked from network usage. For example, a linesubscriber or other authorized person might unsubscribe from theservice. The network service provider may have also determined thatcalls from a particular number should be blocked. Also by way ofexample, these reports might be generated where the user is a minor orthe wrong person might have been billed for charges. Other reportsgeneratable by the administrator may include reports related tocollection tracking, e.g., the accounts placed with collection agencies,the amount and number of collection payments for a particular account oraccounts, and a collection agency's performance.

It should be understood that an employee could also be an administrator,and therefore privy to these types of reports. The remote terminal 125includes in a storage device, information related to this more enhancedaccess. For example, user identification codes and/or passwordscorresponding to these enhanced access rights may be stored at remoteterminal 125. Upon administrator input of the identification code and/orpassword associated with these enhanced access rights, the remoteterminal 125 verifies these enhanced access rights and the requestedreport is generated and compiled.

Access rights may also be granted according to department or title. Forexample, a system administrator might have full system access and fullmodification rights to the system. A manager might have informationaccess rights limited to customer information, complete reporting rightsand limited record modification rights. An accounting employee mighthave full modification rights for account-specific tasks.

Non-employees acting on behalf of the network service provider may alsohave access to the network. For example, a legal representative for thenetwork service provider might have access to a full complement ofcustomer information, but limited reporting rights.

Other reports might relate to employee performance tracking, e.g.,payment and letter processing performed by an employee.

Software executable by remote terminal 125 and storage accessible byremote terminal 125 may also include and process information related tocustomer care. The customer care information may include work schedulesfor customer care representatives. Information that may be processedrelated to customer care may include incentive programs for customercare representatives. Other such processable customer care informationmay include reminder queues to remind the appropriate customer carerepresentative on a particular date that certain actions are to betaken. Such actions might include a reminder to change login rights.Such actions may also include records related to recording and trackingreturn mail or noting customer address changes.

As illustrated, the present disclosure includes an automated billing andaccounting system that handles many routine activities on an automatedbasis. Although the software that handles many of these activities isexecuted by a remote terminal 125 in this embodiment, it should beunderstood that the software could be executed by any one or morecomputers or terminals suitable for performing these actions. Thesecomputers or terminals could be located at any place accessible by thesystem.

Referring now to FIG. 2, illustrated is yet another embodiment of a callflow diagram that incorporates components of the system 200 forconducting and billing e-commerce transactions. This embodimentincorporates a dialer that is downloaded from the Internet. This dialeris used to dial the access number and reach the premium web content.

Moreover, in lieu of voice over internet protocol, this embodimentincorporates a remote access server (RAS) which recognizes the dialer'sunique identification number associated with a web site the user wishesto view. This remote access server assists in routing the user to theappropriate web site. Finally, this embodiment incorporatesfunctionality through which a qualifier in addition to age is used. Thequalifier is a credit rating with which the user might be permittedaccess to tiered credit services for system usage. Agreements withfinancial institutions to extend such credit have been pre-arranged, andwhere a user has a credit rating as found from a third-party server suchas EXPERIAN, the user is essentially pre-approved for a certain creditline.

The present disclosure provides for private network access by a userthrough information obtained from a public network, e.g., the Internet.The information may be obtained by the user when viewing a web page atuser terminal 205.

User terminal 205 includes a personal computer 225 operatively coupledto a display device such as a monitor 210. The user terminal 205 furtherincludes one or more input devices such as mouse 215 and keyboard 220.These input devices 215, 220 are also operatively coupled to thepersonal computer 225. User terminal also includes a modem 230. Themodem may be internal or external. In this illustration, the modem isexternal. Software resident at user terminal 205 includes a web browser.Largely due to web browser, the user terminal 205 is capable ofreceiving one or more web pages. Other software resident at userterminal 205 might include an operating system used to controls theexecution of computer programs, such as the web browser. The operatingsystem may also provide an interface to peripheral devices such as mouse215, keyboard 220 and monitor 210.

While viewing the web page at user terminal 205, the user is giveninformation regarding access to the private network by dialing a tollnumber. By dialing this toll number, the user will be permitted toaccess a downloadable automatic dialer.

In lieu of dialing a toll number and/or accessing an automaticdownloadable dialer, the user might simply browse the Internet and viewthe web page of a merchant affiliated with the e-commerce network. Theuser might request purchase of a particular good and/or service. Insteadof using a credit card, the user might simply choose to dial thee-commerce network by selecting a button on the screen. Entering thenetwork in this manner would not require the user to download theautomatic dialer. The button might read for example: “Teletransact”.

As part of the initiation of the download for the pertinent dialersoftware the user would press an “I agree” button prior to beingpermitted to download the dialer software.

The user may then download automatic dialer software to the userterminal 205. The automatic dialer software is then used to dial theappropriate toll number. The downloadable automatic dialer software ofthe present disclosure is used to dial a toll number from the user'stelephone line. This dialer software incorporates a uniqueidentification number that corresponds to the premium web content thatthe user has requested. For example, the initial web page viewed by theuser might indicate that the user can view web pages from a company thatsells apple tarts. The user would download the dialer that correspondsto the apple tart vendor. The unique identification number in the dialersoftware would correspond to the apple tart vendor. When the user usesthe dialer to dial the apple tart vendor, the unique identificationnumber would be transmitted to the remote terminal 250 as described inmore detail hereinbelow.

Through the communications link (or telephone line) between the userterminal 205 and remote terminal 250, a connection for the toll call isestablished. First, the call is received from by the user's localtelecommunications carrier 235. Examples of such local telephonecarriers are VERIZON, SBC, and ATX. The call is forwarded from theuser's local telecommunications carrier 235 to the user's long distancecarrier 240. Examples of such long distance carriers 240 that providelong distance service are AT&T, MCI and SPRINT. Of course, some localtelecommunications carriers 235 also provide long distance service. Inthis case, the call might be forwarded from one portion of a singlenetwork to another portion of the same network. The call might then beforwarded from the user's selected long distance carrier 240 to yetanother carrier 245, depending on how access to the remote terminal isrouted.

If the user's call is accepted, the call is routed to the remoteterminal 250.

Remote terminal 250 is operated and administrated by a network serviceprovider capable of providing access to the private network that theuser wishes to access. As soon as a connection is established betweenthe user terminal 205 and remote terminal 250, the remote terminal 250begins to attempt to identify the origin of the telephone call usingcall source identification information. An example of such informationthat might be used is the automatic number identification (ANI) serviceprovided by regional and/or local telecommunications carriers. This ANIservice is used to inform the recipient of a telephone call of thetelephone number of the person making the call. The ANI also includesthe name and address of the subscriber associated with the telephonenumber.

The ANI database resides at a location that is accessible by remoteterminal 250. The remote terminal 250 screens the ANI and gives the calla timestamp, thereby noting the time of the call for billing andrecordkeeping purposes.

A mediation platform resident at the remote terminal incorporatesproprietary software; this platform is used to retrieve call sourceidentification information from the remote terminal 250. This softwareis generally resident at the remote terminal 250, but may be at anylocation accessible for execution by the remote terminal 250. If thecall source identification information is located by the remote terminal250, the remote terminal then attempts to determine the status of theANI.

Status information may include information retrieved from a negativedatabase 255 accessible by the remote terminal 250. Such negativeinformation might include exceeding an established time threshold forprivate network access, or when calls originating from a telephonenumber identified by the ANI have been blocked by the network serviceprovider or the user. Based on negative information found in negativedatabase 255, the remote terminal 250 may indicate and display to a userat user terminal such restrictions on the login rights of a user.

One example of such negative information is where the network serviceprovider may have established a 90 minute threshold for calls receivedfrom a telephone number so that a large bill is not generated forcallers. Generally, the higher the bill, the less likely the bill is tobe paid. A minute threshold may be established by an network serviceprovider in order to reduce the likelihood of an unpaid bill.

Calls might be blocked, for example, when a line subscriber hasrequested that toll calls be blocked from his or her telephone line.This might protect a household from unauthorized use by an adult orminor of their telephone line, thereby running up charges which might beassessed against a line subscriber. The present disclosure providesadditional authentication measures such as this as will be described ingreater detail hereinbelow.

Negative information might also include whether the account is active,inactive, in the collections process or in dispute.

It should be understood that the types of negative information arenetwork-specific to the private network and are based on the policies ofthe service provider of the private network. Therefore, any one of anumber of types of negative information might be defined and enforced bythe network service provider.

If the remote terminal 250 cannot locate internally the call sourceidentification information based on the originating telephone number, itattempts to do a reverse address match using a reverse address matchdatabase 260. The address service might be retrieved internally, or itmight be retrieved from a third-party vendor such as EXPERIAN or TARGUS.If the network service provider. The reverse address match service mightbe accomplished where the line subscriber's address is found internallybased on the call source identification information, but the informationis insufficient for network billing purposes. For example, the linesubscriber's name might not be found. If there is no match for theaddress, software located at the remote terminal 250 disconnects thecall. The connection established between the user terminal 205 andremote terminal 250 would thereby be dropped because the source ororigin of the established connection could not be verified properly.

If the remote terminal 250 matches the address with another that isassociated with a name, the information is cached and stored by theremote terminal 250 so that it is accessible for future internal use.This way, the remote terminal 250 can retrieve the informationinternally without making use of third parties. The call then proceedsto a gateway 270 which handles web content of the private network.

In this embodiment, the gateway 270 is a remote access server (RAS). TheRAS recognizes the unique identifier in the dialer software, and routesthe call to the proper uniform resource locator (URL) which representsthe world wide web address for the vendor. Under these circumstances,the age verification must be performed before the RAS.

Because the web content is the last critical phase of the accessprocedure, additional procedures might be employed so that the networkservice provider is further assured that the user is entitled to access.For example, the network service provider might wish to verify that theuser is of legal age, or the network service provider might wish toestablish creditworthiness of the user. Age is a qualification which, ifnot met, will result in no access to the private network.Creditworthiness is a qualification which, if not met, might result inlack of extension of credit for purchases of goods over the privatenetwork.

Before allowing access to web content, the gateway 270 might employ aqualification verifier to handle these critical procedures. Thisverifier might be in the form of software resident at gateway 270, or ata location accessible by gateway 270 or remote terminal 250. In oneembodiment of the present disclosure, the user is asked to input thelast four digits of the user's social security number. Alternatively,the user might be requested to input his or her entire social securitynumber. The user's social security number might be used to verify boththe user's age as well as the user's creditworthiness. Wheneversensitive information, such as social security numbers are used,encryption software might be used so that the user's sensitive personalinformation is not intercepted.

Once the user's social security number is input, this information issent to the remote terminal 250 for validation. If the social securitynumber cannot be validated upon the first attempt, the user is given acouple of additional attempts-three total attempts to enter a propersocial security number. The social security number of the user iscross-matched with call source identification information found atremote terminal 250. In this manner, the user's age might be verified.At this point, if the network service provider simply wishes to verifyage, the user might have already proven this qualification based oninformation contained in internal databases at remote terminal 250.

However, where qualifiers such as creditworthiness need to bedetermined, the network service provider might connect to a third-partydatabase resident on a third-party server 275 in order to obtain auser's credit rating. Under these situations, the network serviceprovider merely acts as an interface between the user, a credit agency,a financial institution and a merchant whose premium web content isviewable on the system. Essentially, the financial institution wouldlend money to the user by making the money accessible to the networkservice provider and/or vendor for goods purchased on the e-commercenetwork.

The network service provider, through its prearranged agreement with thefinancial institution, would essentially agree that it would receive themoney with a commitment that the money would be paid by the networkservice provider to the merchant. The network service provider wouldstand to lose this money if it is not repaid by the user. Accordingly,the network service provider might also charge interest if moneyextended by a financial institution based on a user's credit rating isnot repaid in a timely manner.

If the remote terminal 250 is able to validate that the user has met allqualifications based on internal and/or third-party vendor information,it allows the user to view the premium web content, and the user haspassed all entry hurdles.

If the remote terminal 250 cannot validate the qualifying informationbased on the user's social security number, the remote terminal attemptsto retrieve the information from a third-party vendor.

The call detail record is stored at remote terminal 250 and used in theinvoice process. In lieu of being stored at remote terminal 250, thecall detail record may be stored at any location that is accessible byremote terminal 250. Protective measures are put into place in order toensure that these records are accurate. The call detail record includescertain protections to make sure that a user is not billed twice for thesame call. For example, the ANI could be checked against the date andtime of the call from the timestamp. If two calls having the same dateand timestamp originate from the same call source, the call detailrecord will not duplicate the charges for this call. Where a user isbilled for time-based usage, the call detail record also updates callsaccording to the to the minute usage rounded up to the next full minute.

The user may be issued a user identification and a password during theregistration process. This user identification and password may be usedfor subsequent purchases over the e-commerce network. The user may alsobe required to enter an e-mail address upon registration so that futureinvoices can be e-mailed to the user. Entering an e-mail address mightalso allow the user to be invoiced by e-mail. For example, the usermight agree to be invoiced by e-mail upon registering. Moreover, thisoption might be displayed to the user any time the user enters thesystem. E-mail might also be used to send a confirmation to the usereach time the user conducts a transaction.

Referring now to FIG. 3, illustrated is a screen shot 300 of a web pagethat might be displayed by the system after a user has been issued auser identification and password and has registered with the e-commercenetwork. As illustrated, the screen shot 300 includes customerinformation 310, account information 320 and relevant terms andconditions 330 to which the user must agree to each time the useraccesses the e-commerce network.

In the present embodiment, the relevant terms and conditions includeuser agreement that the user is the line subscriber for the relevanttelephone line from which the call is being placed, that the user isover the age of eighteen (18), and an agreement to be charged aparticular rate per minute for network usage. The terms and conditionsmight also require the user to agree that the e-commerce network has theright, justification, entitlement, permission and authorization to sendthe user future invoices for any e-commerce network usage.

The screen shot 300 also includes information related to a user'saccount detail 350, reference information 360, account action 370 andaccounts receivable action 380. Account detail may include in a submenuone or more interfaces for accessing details on a user's account,including but not limited to, interfaces to notes history 352, invoicehistory 354 and letter history. If the reference information 360interface is selected by user input to the appropriate icon, informationrelated to billing for toll number, frequently asked questions and otherreference information might be accessed by the user. Information on howto uninstall the downloadable dialer software might also be accessed bythe user. The user would press the “I agree” button 340 and be permittedaccess to the system.

User billing might be displayed to the user in a number of ways. Forunit billing, only the user would be privy to the description of theproduct or content purchased or accessed. The user would only be able toaccess this description using the password and unique user identifierthat was issued upon registration.

An invoice summary based on unit billing may include the date and timeof the transaction. The date and time of the user's transaction wasrecorded based on the date and timestamp of the call detail record. Theinvoice summary may also include the quantity of tokens used. Thedescription of the type of token may be displayed. Each token may begiven a particular worth, just as particular denominations of dollarsmight be assigned a particular worth. The price per unit for the tokenconsumption might be displayed, as well the total currency amountrepresented by the tokens in the currency of the user's choice. The usermay have agreed to be billed in a certain currency upon registering. Thetokens may represent United States dollars, Eurodollars or any othercurrency to provide flexibility. The total amount of the user's invoicemay also be displayed.

The user may be invoiced by regular mail, e-mail or any other type ofinvoice method.

Referring now to FIG. 4, illustrated is a call flow diagram inaccordance with yet another embodiment of the present disclosure. Inthis embodiment, the user is capable of accessing an e-commerce networkwith a wireless mobile telephone 500. The mobile telephone 500 includesa display screen 510 and a keypad 520. The mobile telephone 500 isconfigured to send and receive text (or SMS, i.e., short messageservice) messages through software resident at said mobile telephone500. When text messages are received, they are displayed on mobiledisplay screen 510.

The mobile telephone 500 may be operable within GSM (Global System forMobile Communications). A SIM (subscriber identity module) may becarried by the mobile telephone and may be releasably coupled thereto.The SIM may include a processing device. The processing capacity of theSIM in procedures by which the wireless service provider of the mobiletelephone 500 is authenticated. This authentication permitscommunications between the mobile telephone service provider (which alsoprovides text message access in this embodiment) and the e-commercenetwork. It should be understood that, although this embodimentincorporates a mobile telephone, that any wireless device having textmessaging capabilities could be used.

Algorithms forming applications executable upon the processing devicecause, e.g., the mobile terminal 500 to transmit an SMS message or causedata to be displayed upon a display element (not separately shown) ofthe mobile terminal. Resident within mobile telephone 500 is amicroprocessor, random operating memory (RAM), random access memory(ROM), and a handset controller. Optionally, the mobile telephone 500might also be web-enabled and includes web browsing capabilities. Ofcourse, the user must subscribe to the pertinent web services in orderfor the mobile telephone to send and receive web pages.

At user mobile phone 500, the user views information that informs theuser of a telephone number that can be called to access an e-commercenetwork. The telephone number is assigned to an e-commerce goods andservices provider and the number may be linked to one or more goodsand/or services. The e-commerce access number may be received at usermobile telephone 500 by short message service (SMS), a text messagingservice for cellular telephones. It should be understood that the usercould also receive this information (i.e., the telephone number andpertinent goods and/or services) through any other media, including theInternet, advertisement in a catalog, television, advertisements sentwith the user's mobile telephone bill or otherwise.

The user may respond to the merchant communication by sending a textmessage via an SMS that allows the user to agree to be billed in SMSunits. For example, the user may agree to be billed in units, e.g.,$4.99 per unit. Alternatively, the user may agree to be billed inminutes as set forth hereinabove. When the text message is sent, themessage is routed in a manner similar to mobile telephone calls, i.e.,via wireless communications link 515 to a base station 530. The messagemay then be forwarded via wireless link 525 to a base station controller540. The base station controller 540 generally routes the call to amobile switching center 550.

The MSC 550 may, in turn, route the communication any number of routes,depending on the type of communication. The communication may be routedto either a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 565, a messagecenter 570 or the Internet 575.

Because the user has sent a text message, the communication is routed tothe message center 570. An SMS (short message service) center 570permits messages generated at the private network to be formed into SMSmessages at the SMS center 570. SMS messages are transmitted upon acontrol channel, in conventional manner, as defined in the GSM standardspecification. From the message center 570, the user's text messagewould be routed to the e-commerce network 575.

Where the user has seen an advertisement on Internet or television, theremote terminal 575 may respond by sending a return text message thatincludes a password and user identification for login purposes. Thesource of the text message, negative status information and socialsecurity information may be retrieved by the remote terminal 575 foridentification, age verification and credit eligibility as set forthherein. The user may then purchase the pertinent goods and services.

Where the user accesses the goods by returning a text message as opposedto viewing the information on the Internet or television, the user neednot necessarily obtain a password. The user may simply agree to bebilled in SMS units, place the order and receive the invoice as part ofthe user's regular mobile telephone bill.

If the user calls to receive a PIN as opposed to sending a text message,a cellular phone service provider, e.g., AT&T WIRELESS, or SPRINT mightassign to the e-commerce access provider a single telephone number orrange of numbers. Accordingly, when the user places a call to thepertinent access telephone number, the user is accessing a network thatis intended solely for the e-commerce access provider.

PSTN networks have been evolving over the last century and is currentlya mixture of old and new circuit switched technologies. The PSTN networkmainly provides point-to-point interactive two-way voice communicationservices. If the user places a telephone call to reach the e-commercenetwork, the user may be routed through the PSTN 565. If the user'sphone is web-enabled, the user's call may be routed through the Internet575.

In yet another possible routing process, the call may be routed to acircuit-switched network, for example, where the cellular serviceprovider has established a dedicated physical circuit into a servicecarrier's network (not shown). A mobile switching center (MSC) 550 mayprovide switching capabilities that route the call to the circuitswitched network. Integrated service digital network (ISDN) telephonelines are common examples of circuit-switched technology.

As previously described, in lieu of sending and receiving text messages,the user may enter the e-commerce network by calling to receive a PIN.Therefore, after accepting relevant terms and conditions, the user woulddial the number provided by the e-commerce network provider. The callwould be passed to base station 530, base station controller 540, mobileswitching center 550, to a PSTN 565, and finally to the remote terminal580 within the e-commerce network 575.

Through software located at the remote terminal 580, the remote terminal580 first attempts to identify the telephone number and address fromwhich the call originated and the identity of the subscriber to the textmessage service or mobile telephone service. The remote terminalperforms this caller identification by accessing information containedin a call source identification database 571 that includes the mobiletelephone numbers and/or text message address which are cross-referencedwith the pertinent cellular telephone subscriber. The e-commerce networkprovider might have an agreement with a number of cellular telephoneservice providers so that these service providers provide thisinformation to a database accessible by remote terminal. If the linesubscriber's record is found in the call source identification database571, the remote terminal 570 attempts to identify the status of theidentified number and address through the negative database 572.

Status information assists the e-commerce access provider in determiningwhether the call should proceed. As described above, the originatingnumber might be blocked by the user or the telephone service provider,or calls from the originating number might have exceeded anetwork-established usage threshold. In each of these instances, ifnegative information is found in the negative database 572, the call isdropped by the remote terminal 570 based on this negative information.

In some cases, the call will not proceed this far if the call sourceidentification database 571 does not provide sufficient information forthe number and address of the originating call.

If, at the remote terminal 580, it is determined that the customer doesnot exist in the system based on lack of customer information in thebilling system, the system creates a new customer record. If the lastcall received by the remote terminal 580 from the call source was made asignificant period of time prior to the current calls, such as 60 daysprior, the remote terminal 580 may attempt to re-validate the callsource information from the call source identification database 571because the call source identification information may have changed insuch a significant length of time.

If the user's personal information is verified, the call proceeds to aninteractive voice response server 585 over a voice-over internetprotocol (VoIP) gateway, which handles preambles, voice prompts and tonerecognition. This interactive voice response server 585 assists withverifying the user's age. The age verification process may be performedas set forth hereinabove by matching a partial or full social securitynumber that is input from keypad 520 at the behest of interactive voiceresponse server 585 with information found in the social securitydatabase 573.

Also as set forth above, another database (not shown) such as oneadministrated by EXPERIAN or TARGUS may be used to assist with agevalidation and/or credit eligibility.

The user is given a personal identification number (PSIN). The PINallows the user to connect to site content without disconnecting fromthe user's Internet service provider (ISP). The PIN might be, forexample, an eight-digit number.

The user may also be billed in units according to the goods and/orservices purchased. The units may include a token, voucher or other formof online currency or credit. In this case, the user may have agreed tounit billing. The user may use his mobile telephone 500 to orderavailable goods and/or services. The units essentially act as tokens tobe used within the system. For each unit, the user would be charged afixed amount on the user's cellular telephone bill.

The method and system have been described with reference to certainexemplary embodiments. However, it will be readily apparent to thoseskilled in the art that it is possible to embody the method and systemin forms other than these embodiments. This may be done withoutdeparting from the spirit of the disclosure. The embodiments are merelyillustrative and should not be considered restrictive in any way.Moreover, it should be understood that any software module describedherein may be contained in a stand-alone or combined with other softwaremodules. The scope of the method and system are given by the appendedclaims, rather than the preceding description, and all variations andequivalents that fall within the range of the claims are intended to beembraced.

1. A system for restricting access to an e-commerce network, comprising:a gateway device configured to provide access to the e-commerce networksubsequent to verification of a required user qualification, wherein therequired user qualification is a minimum credit rating for a user; aqualification verification device operably coupled to the gatewaydevice, the qualification verification device being configured to verifythe required user qualification in response to a user qualificationinput signal, wherein the user qualification input signal includes aunique user identifier.
 2. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein theuser qualification input signal includes at least part of a socialsecurity number, and wherein the verification device retrieves aqualification information signal from a social security database memory.3. The system as recited in claim 2, wherein the verification device isfurther configured to retrieve a qualification information signal from athird party database memory that contains credit rating information. 4.The system as recited in claim 3, wherein the credit rating informationis used to extend credit to a user for goods or services purchased. 5.The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the gateway device includes aninteractive voice response server configured to interact with a userover an established connection between the user and the gateway device,and wherein the interactive voice response server is further configuredto request a user input signal of the user unique identifier and torecognize the user unique identifier; and wherein the gateway device isa voice over internet protocol gateway.
 6. The system as recited in 5,wherein the gateway device is further configured to provide a uniquegateway identification code signal which, when input by the user,provides access to the e-commerce network.
 7. A system for qualifying auser to access an e-commerce network, the system being operably coupledto the e-commerce network, the system comprising: a remote terminalbeing configured to receive a request, the remote terminal furtherhaving a unique user identifier retrieval device configured to retrievea first unique user identifier signal from at least one database memory;and a qualification verification device operably coupled to the remoteterminal, the qualification verification device being configured toverify a required user qualification in response to a user qualificationinput signal, wherein the required user qualification is a minimumcredit rating for a user, and the user qualification input signalincludes a second unique user identifier.
 8. The system as recited inclaim 7 wherein the user qualification input signal includes at leastpart of a social security number, and wherein the verification deviceretrieves information from a social security database memory.
 9. Thesystem as recited in claim 8, wherein the verification device is furtherconfigured to retrieve information from a third party database memorythat contains credit rating information.
 10. The system as recited inclaim 9, wherein the credit rating information is used to extend creditto a user for goods or services purchased.
 11. The system as recited inclaim 7, wherein the qualification verification device is incommunication with the gateway device, and the gateway device includesan interactive voice response server configured to interact with a userover the established connection, and wherein the interactive voiceresponse server is further configured to request a user input signal ofthe first unique user identifier and to recognize the first unique useridentifier; and wherein the gateway device is a voice over internetprotocol gateway.
 12. The system as recited in 11, wherein the gatewaydevice is configured to provide a unique gateway identification codesignal which, when input by the user, provides access to the e-commercenetwork.